Fitness Gains

I started the Beginner Level Turbulence Training (TT) about a week before I started Precision Nutrition (I was waiting for my PN folder to arrive). Consequently, I have just finished the 4-week plan.

This consists of 2 alternating workouts, A and B. Each is made up of six exercises, grouped into 3 supersets, followed by 20 minutes of cardio intervals. Each superset is performed twice, with a minute’s rest between supersets. Most of the exercises call for 10 reps, ie. 2×10 for the majority. This is quite modest, but it is a beginner’s workout. The intermediate workouts I begin tomorrow have 3 sets of each.

For the uninitiated, a superset is where you do two exercises back to back, without a break, then rest before repeating. There are different reasons for doing this. For example you might use one of the exercises in a superset to pre-tire a muscle, then do the second exercise to take it to complete fatigue. But the TT supersets are created with a different goal. They are comprised of upper body/lower body exercises. This means that one body part rests while you work the other. This means that your workout takes less time overall. The other advantage of this is something called peripheral heart action (PHA). This means your heart has to work extra hard to shunt extra blood to the exercising muscles at opposite ends of your body. This makes your weight workout into a mini-cardio workout too, upping the calorie burn. You sweat a lot more than you’d imagine during a PHA workout!

So, my gains:

Workout A

DB squat (2×10) Starting: 4 kg each hand Final: 6 kg each hand
Push up (2×10) Starting: kneeling push ups Final: FULL PUSH UPS (yay)
DB row (2×10) Starting: 4 kg Final: 5kg
Stability ball leg curl (2×12) At the start I had to lower my body to the ground between reps but now I can stay up for all 12 reps. This is still a toughie though.
Ab curl up (2×6) No weight. Getting easier.
Side plank (2×15 secs) That’s 15 secs each side. Getting a little easier. But still hard.

Interval Workout A

5 minutes warm up, 4 intervals of 1 minute hard (RPE 8)/2 minutes easy (RPE 3), 3 minutes cool down. RPE is rate of perceived exertion – or how intensely you feel you are working out. There are guidelines for what each RPE is supposed to feel like, but I find heart rate training gives me a pretty good, less subjective indication. I’ll talk more about heart rate training another day.

I can’t go particularly fast as my knees are shot so I use the incline to increase my RPE.
Week 1, my RPE 8 was 4.0 kph at 15% incline. My RPE 3 was 3.0 kph at 2% incline.
End of week 4, my RPE 8 was 4.8 kph at 15% incline. My RPE 3 was 3.6 kph at 2% incline.

Since my treadmill doesn’t go higher than 15%, I am going to have to keep increasing the speed. Being very obese and with bad knees I am a little nervous about this, but if I have knee problems I will have to figure out how to do these intervals with a different kind of cardio.

Workout B

DB chest press (2×10) Start: 5 kg dumbells Final: 6 kg dumbells
DB step up (2×10) Start: 5 kg dumbells on a 6-inch step Final: 6 kg dumbells on an 8-inch step
Elevated push up (2×12) Start: Kneeling push ups Final: Best I’ve done is one set of full push ups plus one set of kneeling
1-leg hip extension (2×10) Getting easier
Plank (2×4 10-sec reps) Start: 4 x 10 sec reps Final: 1 x 40 sec plank!
Bird dog (2×6) Much steadier

Interval Workout B

5 minutes warm up, 3 intervals of 2 minutes hard (RPE 7)/2 minutes easy (RPE 3), 3 minutes cool down.
Week 1, my RPE 7 was 4.0 kph at 10% incline. My RPE 3 was 3.0 kph at 2% incline.
End of week 4, my RPE 7 was 4.8 kph at 10% incline. My RPE 3 was 3.6 at 2% incline.

Where to from here? Obviously, I was starting from a very low fitness base, but I am quite happy with these gains. I expect to see considerably greater weight gains in the next block of 4 weeks as I shift to mostly 3×8 sets. The intervals are harder too, with less recovery. Plus, I plan to add in a 4th interval training session each week. And do at least 30 minutes pilates on non-lifting days. Anyway, that’s all for now. ‘night all.

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Week 3 Results

This has been a good week for me, compliance wise: 91% on nutrition, and got in 5 hours 20 minutes of cardio and weights, plus 90 minutes of standing pilates. The first time for me making the 5 hours mark. And today I finished the Turbulence Training Beginners programme. So as of tomorrow, I’m ‘Intermediate’. Woohoo. I’m looking forward to working a bit harder, but Craig B is very insistent you begin with the beginners programme if you haven’t lifted in a while. So, done, and moving on.

Despite this, my results are confusing and disappointing. My weight is up 3 lbs from last week, and according to the body fat calculations, that is made up of 1 lb lean muscle (for a total gain of 7 lbs – is this possible? I know I’m an endomorph, but still….) and 2 lbs of fat. My BF% is 31%, compared to 30.5% last week. And I haven’t done a tracker this week since my weight, 214.6 lbs, is actually greater than my starting weight before I began the challenge.

My girth measurements are equally confusing. Changes are small or absent, but tend to be down a little, so that’s good I guess. My arm, waist, and hip measurements are down slightly, but my thigh and calf are up a bit.

I guess at this stage the best advice is to stick with it and see what happens next week. Also next week I will take more photos. If, at that time, the results are not a little better, I will have had a couple of weeks of >90% compliance (I hope) and I can start looking to individualise the plan.

On the plus side, I am proud of myself for the commitment I have shown this week, sticking to the diet plan despite a number of challenges, and I feel good about all the exercise I have been doing. So, pat myself on the back for that.

Spaghetti Squash ‘Bolognaise’

Hi Readers,

I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long. I’ve had no internet connection. Aarrgh! I’ve been going crazy. What did we ever do before we had the web?

We’ve only just sorted out our technical problems today. So this is the post that I wrote on Wednesday but couldn’t upload. From tomorrow, all will be back to normal. I hope.

Did an hour of standing pilates today, in preparation for my class tonight. Need to be able to do the moves if I’m gonna teach them, right? My abs were already crying out from the 30 minutes I did yesterday. Not a proper workout, my a***! Pardon my french. Anyway, hubby is under strict instructions not to make me laugh. I’ll write more about standing pilates in a later post.

Also ate clean today:

Meal 1: Omelette made with one omega-3 egg plus 2 whites, chopped mushroom, handful of spinach. Cooked with olive oil spray. On the side, 3 chopped cherry tomatoes and 1/4 diced avocado. Water, 1000mg fish oil, omega 3-6-9 pill, 500mg vitamin C, 400mg calcium + vitamin D.

Meal 2: Grilled trout with peppers, onions, mushroom, spinach and garlic, cooked with a little olive oil. Water, fish oil.

1 hour standing pilates practice.

Meal 3: Half a peanut butter fudge bar from Gourmet Nutrition. Water, fish oil.

Taught a Standing Pilates class.

Meal 4: Spaghetti squash ‘bolognaise’. See recipe below. Water, fish oil, 500mg vitamin C, 400mg calcium + vitamin D.

Am about to hop on the treadmill and do some steady state cardio. Phew, done. 32 minutes, including 2 mins cooldown, no incline. Did 2.242km in that time.

Meal 5: 2/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese, handful raspberries and blueberries, teaspoon of flax seeds. Cup of tea, fish oil.

And now for that recipe:

Spaghetti Squash ‘Bolognaise’

This was originally a nice vegetarian recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but a bit lacking in protein. But it’s a great way to get lots of varied veg into a tasty meal and is easily adapted to add more protein. It takes a little while to cook because you have to bake the squash, but it is ridiculously easy to make. Spaghetti squash has a pulpy flesh which, when cooked, can be separated into thin, spaghetti-like strands. See this link for more information about spaghetti squash. Hint: toast pine nuts in a dry frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat until they start to show brown spots and smell nice.

Ingredients
1 small spaghetti squash (around 1 1/4 to 1 1/5 lbs)
200g protein source, eg. lean beef mince, TVP for vegetarians, etc.
2 oz. lite mozzarella cheese, cubed or grated
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped (around 3/4 cup)
1 Tbsp tomato puree
3 green or spring onions, finely sliced (around 1/4 cup)
1/4 cups pine nuts, toasted
Small handful of snipped fresh basil, to your taste
1 tsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp olive oil
1–2 cloves garlic, minced, as per your taste
2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Method
Halve the squash lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon. Prick the skin all over and place the halves, cut side down, in a rectangular baking dish. Cover and bake in a 350°F oven (180°C) for 60 to 70 minutes until tender.

Use a couple of forks to separate out the squash pulp into strands, leaving the strands in the shell. Mix half of the mozzarella into each shell and press the pulp-cheese mixture up the sides of the shell to leave a hollow in the centre.

Meanwhile, brown the meat in a frying pan using 1 tsp oil. Alternatively, prepare vegetarian protein source as directed on packet.

In a bowl combine tomatoes, onions, pine nuts, tomato puree, basil, oregano, 1T olive oil, garlic, and meat/soy protein. When the squash is ready, split the filling between the two shells, and return to the baking dish. Sprinkle over the parmesan cheese, and return to the oven uncovered for about 20 minutes, until the filling is heated through.

Serves 1 big strong man or 2 smaller women. Double or triple the recipe as necessary to feed more. Enjoy.

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